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Asia-pacific trade and investment report 2014

Recent Trends and Developments

Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report (APTIR) is a major annual publication of the Trade and Investment Division of United Nations ESCAP. It provides information on and independent analyses of trends and developments in: (a) intra- and inter-regional trade in goods and services; (b) foreign direct investment; (c) trade facilitation measures; (d) trade policy measures; and (e) preferential trade policies and agreements. It provides insights into the impacts of these recent and emerging developments on countries’ abilities to meet the challenges of achieving inclusive and sustainable development. It identifies and studies emerging issues in all these areas and offers innovative policy options towards building capacities of governments in the region to meet the challenges of achieving inclusive and sustainable development. APTIR 2014 shows that, while the Asia-Pacific region remains the most dynamic pole of the global economy, growth in trade and investment has yet to return to pre-crisis levels. The Report is aimed at policymakers as well as practitioners and experts, academia, business, international agencies and non-governmental organizations working or interested in these issues in the Asia-Pacific region. It comes with separate country and subregional country briefs.

Trade facilitation in the Asia-Pacific region: A bright outlook

The Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA), accomplished at the ninth WTO Ministerial Conference in December 2013, is the first major global trade agreement to have been concluded since the establishment of WTO in 1995. Although implementation of the TFA remains uncertain, the agreement provides evidence of a global consensus on the importance of trade facilitation for sustainable economic development as well as a narrow but concrete framework through which countries may simplify and enhance the transparency of their trade procedures.